Fire guts 5 buildings at Balogun Market, goods worth millions of naira destroyed

GOODS worth millions of naira were on Monday destroyed at the popular Balogun Market on the Lagos Island, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The fire which was said to have started at about 4 a.m. affected about five buildings but no casualty was recorded in the incident.

Confirming the incident, Supt. Olarenwaju Smith of the Ebute-Ero Police Division, attributed the incident to power surge.

``Considering the weather, the fire service men are doing their best to put out the fire. We are equally here to protect lives and property.

``The way shops are built here makes it difficult for both the police and fire service officers to have access to the affected buildings.

``No death or casualty has been recorded so far.

``We were told that the cause of the fire was an electrical spark from a transformer which later spread to an electricity generator,’’ the police officer said.

Mr Pascal Olokungboye, Chief Fire Officer, Lagos State Government Fire Service, said that fire fighters from the state arrived at the scene few minutes after a distress call was made to their station.

``We received a distress call around 4 a.m. and immediately we rushed down to the scene.

``We have exhausted two tankers with capacity of 10, 000 liters of water and we have also called for backup from our stations as the water is not enough.

Olokungboye also thanked God that there was no casualty in the incident.

Some of the traders whose goods were affected were seen crying and lamenting their losses, while others were also seen sympathising with them.

Mr Boniface Okeke, one of the traders, said that two of his warehouses were razed, adding that he lost goods worth over N5 million.

``I was brushing my teeth this morning in preparation to come to the market when I received a call that my shops are on fire.

``Eeh! Can’t you see how the fire is raging on, all my goods are destroyed. All that I have laboured for is gone,’’ the sobbing trader told NAN.

Another trader, Mrs Tinu Kilani, who was in tears while speaking to NAN, said all her shops and the goods therein had been destroyed by the fire.

``I cannot even estimate the amount of goods I have in there and now everything is gone,’’ she said.

Mr Johnson Ebere, who also had a shop at the market, said his shop was also affected.

``I sell shoes, slippers and sandals and everything has been destroyed by the fire,’’ he said.

Roselyn Edeigba, one of the shop owners, said that her warehouse worth more than N6 million was destroyed.